The Darkness
by RaleighIncognito
Summary: Completely AU. First story for me though. Read? A powerful entity enters our world and encounters and convinces a powerful young teen into his scheme. One-shot, for now.


_**The Darkness**_

**AN: **Many years ago a fellow roleplayer and I wrote a thread. Not wanting to lose one of my better postings back then, I went back and saved it all to my computer, turning it all into a short fic. I don't even remember his/her name that wrote this with me... But if he/she is out there reading this, let me know. I'd love to possibly write with you again.

Also, this is completely AU, being based off of a site. We didn't have many canons, unfortunatly. Maybe someday, I will write something...

And, first one I've published in quite a long time... First X-Men. So be kind, please. And I would appreciate some constructive criticism...

**Disclaimer:** I only own one of these characters... Darkness (the Shadow guy) belong to the other author... The rest, minimal that it is, belongs to Marvel...

* * *

It was raining. It had been for the majority of the night. Puddles lined various sections of the streets and the trees were fresh with droplets of their precious life force. It was also a new moon, and few street lights were operating. Many had forgotten about this area of town. You could hear something smash and then dogs howling, and no one would care. Windows were boarded up, old men sat on porches with shotguns, but it didn't bother this man.

He wore fine brown shoes, a long black coat, had a soft patch of light brown hair and steely green-blue eyes. One wouldn't normally find someone like he to be in this area of town. But he liked it. He drenched in the smell of danger, it caused his lips to crack upward in a mere smirk, and soon those lips were filled with a cigarette, its sweet intoxicating taste soon filling his lungs, and he exhaled into the night sky.

He wore gloves. Leather gloves. An unusual aspect for men, especially, but he liked to wear gloves. Why? You'd never find out. He always kept to himself. He looked to be late 30's. Unmarried. And for good reason. He took another puff of his smoke and looked over his shoulder, then suddenly slipped into a nearby shadow, the world around him now becoming greyscale and slowing suddenly.

Yet the dogs still howled... as another smash and a scream sounded nearby...

Jackie Raleigh passed under one of the few streetlights still working. The light passed over her smooth, silky black hair almost lovingly, even after she passed through the light and left it behind it still seemed to cling to her. Perhaps it was her eyes that seemed to make it so. One silver; the other green. Even with her delicate features and emaciated appearance, anyone could tell this girl was dangerous. Static electricity seemed to cling to her, her fingertips glowed white in the night. The girl was in her late teens. A pixie style cut with long pink bangs in the front belayed her punk nature. A tattoo on the back of her neck with the numbers and letters _S/H/19/86_ kept a terrible secret. Scars seemed to dance upon her skin, scars from needles, from nails, from knives. But none were self-inflicted. Each and every scar were a courtesy from the scientist who had kept her in captivity for the first nineteen years of her life.

A sudden shattering of glass sounded from nearby, followed by the terrified scream of a young girl. This noise is ignored by the teenager.

Jackie, or Spaz as others knew her, drew a long silver dagger from her sleeve as a shadow loomed up out of the darkness. Spaz tossed the strange shadow a look of utter disbelief as she sheathed her dagger and continued on her way.

In her long leather hooded trench coat and black knee high boots, Spaz barely fit into this unknown neighborhood. As the rain seemed to pour down heavier, Spaz drew her hood over her head and tucked her pink streaks behind her ears. She stepped heavily into a unseen puddle and momentarily lost her balance. Quickly regaining it she stepped down a side alley, hoping beyond belief that her empath abilities would warn her before someone attacked.

In the shadow world, other powers were useless. The shadow world was his to dominate and he only hoped that one day he could be strong enough to capture the entire world in darkness.

Though he decided to scare this young girl, a smirk spreading as he exhaled cigarette smoke from the shadow world, past her ear, knowing that she would feel it. Seeing smoke, from an unknown source, and being unable to access who it belonged to would no doubt frighten even the strongest. He moved before her now, watching as she stumbled, the only way she'd know if he was there if she brushed past him. Luckily he jumped back, but still, keeping his eyes on her.

Timidly, he then snuck up close to her ear, and breathed cold breath upon it, as worlds exhaled from his mouth. "Little girl lost, little girl trapped, forever forsaken, forever scarred..." A smirk, then he vanished completely into the darkness, but he still watched her, waiting for her reaction.

Spaz clamped a small, scarred hand over her ear as she whirled around. "Who's there?"

Her voice was hoarse, smoky sounding. A small sliver of light reflected off her eyes. She backed up a step, her eyes searching the darkness for any sign of life. She took a deep breath as silence seemed to come down heavily, smothering the neighbor hood. She closed her eyes and searched outward with her empathic mind. Exhaling she opened her eyes just as a cold breath whispered in her ear. She unsheathed her dagger again, her eyes wide in fear, and outrage. "I said, who's there!" She brandished the weapon before her, whirling around she faced the darkness behind her. She could see nothing, could hear nothing. But she could smell.

Smoke. Cigarette smoke to be exact.

_Little girl lost, little girl trapped, forever forsaken, forever scarred..._ Shadows couldn't speak... It was impossible. Wasn't it?

"Who's there!" Answered the voice, his tone husky and cruel, yet seemingly mocking. "Scared of your own shadow are we?" Hmm. Fresh blood, almost. A cackle emerged from the base of his throat when he manipulated the shadows to the point where he threw his arms forward and pushed her into the puddle in the ground, watching her for a moment, before moving to her right, crouching beside her, leaning by her ear.

"Perhaps the more appropriate question is: Where are you?" He was speaking hypothetically, not necessarily referring to the immediate area around her, but her point in life. Perhaps if she figured it out quickly, he could have a use for this one. He rose to his feet and stood behind her, finishing his smoke to some degree and flicking it by her hand. The sparks died suddenly in the water, and the dogs finally stopped howling.

The voice echoed around her as Spaz fell to the ground, pushed by an unseen foe. Her empathy reached out, stretching for the recognition of another mind. She gave up, slashing outward with her dagger; but hit nothing.

"Where am I?" She let out a laugh. "I am at the point of no return. I am at the point of my life where I must make my decision. Should I join one side or the other? Or perhaps should I track down my mysterious parents?"

Somehow, she just knew what he was talking about.

"The sad ending of one fairy tale... slowly circulating you... embracing you to the point where you cannot escape..." He stepped out of the shadows. But he was behind her this time. "I can help you. I can prevent you from failing. You can be strong, powerful. The one thing you need to give me is your trust." He then slipped into the shadows again, knowing she'd turn around.

"Such darkness holds onto you... drawing every last breath until it cannot feed any longer..." His voice drawled out for a moment. "I can see it. I can feel it." _How... How can he possibly know? No one does..._ Her strange eyes wide, she attempts to back up, but finds her way blocked. Instead, she freezes, face white with fear.

His breath was hoarse as he pulled a segment of darkness from her shoulders, in the shadow realm, knowing that she will feel some source of release. He swallowed it whole, his eyes glazing over with a sense of anger, and then they returned to normal, as he approached her, and whispered in her ear again: "That is only the beginning... I can show you so much more... Just give me your trust. Your word."

"From failing..." she whispered. His voice was hypnotic. Her hand landed in a puddle, forcing her senses to reawaken with the shock of the cold that seeped through her leather glove.

"How do I know that you will keep you word? That you will not betray me?" Her voice turned hoarse from fear and awe as she spoke, aware that she was treading a thin line with these words... That whoever she was facing was much, much more powerful than she.

Footsteps out of the darkness approached her, something lifted from her shoulders. A little less anger burdened her mind. "Only one word..?" She swayed on her feet, almost dizzy, from the thought of this pain, of this worry, of this anger, going away.

"You will know". He reminded her, sternly, stepping away for a mere moment. "Yes. Just one word."

He controlled the skies now to blacken completely, as a mild fog rose and the last remaining street lamp blew out above them. The glass would have hit her, but it didn't. He manipulated the shadows to form some kind of vortex, sucking the glass that fell around her, not even touching her, all she felt was a breath of cold air. He drew the vortex away. She looked up in surprise as the glass shattered. As it seemed to slide of an invisible wall, away from her, keeping her out of harms way. The sky darkened, it became colder for a single instant, then went back to the damp cold of the rain.

"I can do so much more." He looked at her, head tilting, pausing. So much darkness surrounded this young one. "Much... much more." He tempted her again, by drawing a fist full of darkness from her back, dotting it to his own. "What else must I do to gain your trust, when I already have shown you what I can do with just a little power..?"

He let the shadows fade around him slightly so that she could see a shilloutte form. Almost as if he - to her - looked like a ghost. Then, he disappeared completely, again. She watched, mystified, to her it looked like a spirit from beyond, like the doctor she had nearly killed so many years ago. She did not need to see his face. It did not matter. She knew by instinct that he could help her. But at what price? What would she lose if she gave into him? Would she lose the friendships she had gained in the past few months at the School? What about Chris's sacrifice to get her to safety? The sacrifice that made him a wanted man by Culumbine?

It would only take one word. One word and all the pain, the worry, the fear would be gone. But what else would be gone?

Bracing herself, she made her decision. "My trust...is yours." And as the words came from her mouth, Spaz's shoulders dropped and she slumped forward, the sudden agony of an unfamiliar pain passing through her. The loss of her mortality.

The words made his lips press upward into a mere cold smirk, he reached forward to her, letting his hands brush her arms, tenderly, yet they were so cold. Spaz shivered at his touch. So cold...yet something so reassuring was in that coldness.

"Good." He said, stepping back. "First, you must do me one thing. Bring me the one called Fen. I have a little surprise for her." Spaz's eyes widened momentarily then returned to normal. "I will bring you Fen."

The rain finally stopped, and a thick humidity circulated through the air. He lit up another smoke, and then smiled to himself. He would bring Spaz into his world soon. Oh yes. He had a special plan for her.

She turned, her trench coat whirling around her as she did so and left the alleyway in brisk, quick steps. _I will do whatever I can to get rid of this pain, of this anger building up inside of me...Even if it means betraying my friends....The ones who saved me._

**AN: **So, even though I helped write this years ago... Shall I continue?


End file.
